Many star chefs attribute their efficiency and work ethic to their time spent earning their stripes as prep cooks, dishwashers, and the like. We did some investigating and unearthed which low-brow restaurants some well-known chefs started out at before making it big. We also found out the low-pay positions they endured, including delivery boy, busser, stromboli cook, and penny-candy salesman.

Chef: Bobby Flay (Mesa Grill)First Job: Bobby worked as a pizza delivery boy in the sixth grade. “When I wasn’t delivering pies, the owners of the parlor let me open the
cans of tomatoes and grate the mozzarella.” [via NY Daily News]

Chef: Paula DeenFirst Job: Before starting her own line of finishing butters, Deen ran the Bag Lady delivery service in town with her two sons, Jamie and Bobby. [via Metromix NY]

Chef: Michael Voltaggio (Ink)First Job: This Top Chef alumn began his career bussing tables at the local Holiday Inn where his brother (Bryan Voltaggio) was a sous-chef. [via Food & Wine]

Chef: Barbara Lynch (No. 9 Park, B&G Oysters)First Job: Barbara’s first paid cooking job was at age 13 at a local rectory in South Boston. [via .Inc]

Chef: Daniel Humm (Eleven Madison Park, The Nomad)First Job: Chef Humm started his cooking career as an apprentice at the Hotel Baur au Lac in Zurich at age 16. (OK, that’s not a low-brow restaurant). [via Restaurant Girl]